Of por



i building material. y these new building blocks are formed is as y,follows:--A quantity of coarse siliceous "sand, as free as possible fromadmixture with clay or other earths is provided, to-

`fgether with a quantity of good freshly Menosn rosrnnor ronrnnwn,wiscoNsINaEQA. MESSINGERAND 1wMJ A. "SPENCER, `e;

ADMiNis'rRarons onlJonNza. Mnssmennrnncnasnn, mvrn or MiLwAU coysiN.` qt i i Specification of Letters Patent To @ZZ whom t may concern "Bef itknown that 1AM`BRosnVFosrER, off w Prtland, in the county of Dodge, andJOHN?` Mnssircnn, deceased, late of Milwaukee,

`the county of Milwaukee, bothin the State of l/Visconsin, haveinventedanew and eful Building-Block as a Substitute for )ricks and Stones, of`which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference`being had to the accompanying draw-` ings, which representbuilding-blocks of va?y rious forms made according to this im-v n provedplan.

` The bases of this improved building block 3 are lime and sand,articles which are old and l well known mat-erials for buildingpurposes,

and have been used in combination 1n a possessed by any other knownartificial The manner in which slaked` lime in powder. Each of theseshould be sifted to separate any coarse lumps it may n contain. As muchsand and lime as can be molded into blocks duringan hour, are then to bethoroughly mixed together, in the pro` portions of about one part, by,measure, of y lime, to twelve parts of sand, the lime being the drypowdery hydrate produced when lumps of calcined limestone are freshly islaked, and the sand being as damp, as it ordinarily is when dugout ofthe eart-h.` This `composition is next placed in molds of the propershape, in a molding press, similar to i those 1n common use for makingbricks from `pulverulent clay, and is there submitted to great pressurewhich should be proportioned n to the thickness of the block required.Asuitable pressure for a block which, when finn ished would be tenincheslong, four inches y i-BUILDINe-lniiook.

dated Tanuary i ide, and three inches this;` When the blockhasbeenthusisubmitted i i to pressure, it is removedfromjithemold withcare, and laid upon aiiat surface with free access of a1r,`wh

"remain iintil `suiiiciently `har i i built into a wall, whic w twentydays, `accordin l thepurpose of facilitat t efripening o the block, itshould,wh'erefthis formiis ad missable, be perforated withoneor moreholes, as represented inthefdrawings. These admitthe carbonio acid ofthe atmosphere `into the central part of theblocks, and thus i n convertthe hydrate of limeinto carbonate,` which change, if the blocks werelarge and solid, might not take place foryears. The particles of sand inthe composition are forced by the heavy pressure to whichfthe" block issubjected, into such close proximity that it requires but very little`cement to fill the interstices, and agglomerate; them `together into ablock of compactsandstone.`

Hence` a small proportion of lime furnishes an abundance of cement. Theblocks thus n made become indurated aftera few months `to such adegree,.that they are notlreadily distinguishable from natural sandstonesuch `as is used in many placesfor building pur-` poses; and perhaps themost1appropriate 9 name for this building block would be artifi-` cialstone. Care mustbe taken inthepreparation of this material, not toemploywet` sand, because if there 1s an excess of moisture to such adegree that water `exudes while the block is pressing, or mortar isformed, it would be impossible to give to the mass, the requisitesolidity, as thel cohesion of the water to the sand? and lime is sostrong and its incompressibility isgso great i that it coul-d not beexpressed infpthe very n brief space of time to whichthe pressure of theblock inthe process of manufacture is necessarily limited.``'lhisjexcess,of water would afterwards be evaporated leaving the i,

block, comparatively, porous, 1ight,` and friable, and it would notmaintain its shape,` would crack in drying;` would be much longer inhardening,and`would never at@ i i tain that degree of indurato'nnecessary to n n i iwould bef one 3g hundred and twenty tons Iior threetons to e "th" l ness y of i the bloclnand the stateo thewea 1er.qFor

constitute it a goo-d building material; these are theebjection's `tothe'blocks fof mortar before referred to.

If the lime should be of poor quality such as is made in some sectionsof the country from .a siliceous magnesian` 1' limestone, it mightrequire one bushel of lime to six of sand. Again, if sharp, Washed, sandlisof Very coarse grain, it Will require morev lime it Will require moreor less lime according to the nature of -its impurltles. y

When sand,v is not readily obtainable, the scoria y of furnaces, bricks,Smc., and other pulverulent siliceouslcoarsely pulverized ymatter may beemployed inplace, ofthe sand. y fr The lime and sand may be m-iXed'Withthe give the blocks any desired color.

- ,These blocksv dry Without .Shrinking ofV 4warping,and hence, possessin these particulars, ygreat advantages over bricks, 'which alwaysshrink much, and Very unequally,

vandgalso vWarp in burning. v

than if of fine'grain'yif -it lis `loamyIand'in'e,`V

`-0Xids o f'metals or other coloring matter, to i 3 Ornamental devicestoo, may be molded ,upon .these blocks, which'l could not be formed uponany kind-fof a brick or block, that required burning, Without increasing.the expensefbeyond what Would be vjustified by theV Value ofy thebrick, When finished.

As sand and lime, can be obtained cheaply kin nearly all sections of thecountry Where buildings are required,rand no expense for burning,rormaking, lling, and emptying kilns is necessary in the manufacture ofthese blocks, as in ybrick making, they will `in mosty places cost lessthan bricks and Will

